My world, literally

The Western end of the Rizal Park is marked by a relief map of the Philippines in a pool of water. We're at the Southern end of the country—geographically, we'd be standing in the Celebes Sea, with Malaysia on the left and Indonesia to the right and back—and the islands nearest us are those of Sulu and Basilan, which are both part of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. I wish I could have taken a photo from a higher vantage point, but unless I stood on the Light Rail Transit's track, this was as high as I could get. I was completely fascinated with the map as a child and I still am.

And That's My World!

City in a valley

A view of Marikina City and the mansion-like homes around the Capitol Hills Golf & Country Club under a bright blue noon sky filled with puffy little clouds. The city of Marikina is built in a valley between the foothills of the Sierra Madre mountain range and the ridge which marks the boundary of Quezon City. My father used to tell me how this fertile valley—a river runs its entire length—used to be nothing but rice fields. During the worst of our annual typhoons, the Marikina River always breaks its banks—good for paddy field agriculture but not for human settlements. In fact, Marikina City was one of the worst hit cities in Metro Manila during last year's devastating Typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana).

Visit the Sky Watch Friday home page and tour the skies of our beautiful world.

Finally!

I first posted a photo of this tiny blue and white bridge in the Loyola Heights campus of the Ateneo de Manila University for my 100th post way back in 2008. After two years, I finally took the time to cross it and find out if the greenhouse from my college days is still there. Though I've always remembered this bridge as being blue and white, I seem to remember that it had wooden floorboards back then. The sheet of metal that serves as its current flooring is so rusty that I almost didn't want to walk over it, for fear that it wouldn't be able to bear my weight. Curiosity won over safety. You'll have to come back tomorrow to find out what's on the other side, but I guess that it's only right to warn you that I was mighty disappointed. Oh well. At least the itch has been scratched and I also finally have a bridge for Louis' Sunday Bridges. Yay!

Bridges around the world: Sunday Bridges

I've blue and white, and Louis' Golden Gate Bridge is red—perfect for today. Happy 4th of July to all my American friends! Here, we celebrate it as Filipino-American Friendship Day.

D'oh!

On the second day of our recollection last week, the first prayer period was at 6:30 in the morning. So I finally woke up early enough to catch a sunrise. Only to discover that, from the highest point of the Loyola Retreat House (which was the second floor deck), the sunrise was behind the trees and over the next hill.

Visit the Sky Watch Friday home page and tour the skies of our beautiful world.

Bellarocca: Water, earth & sky

Because Bellarocca Island is a rock, the beach is quite small and the shoreline's incline is steep. The rough coral and rocks which the beach is composed of make me suspect that the island is young too, geologically speaking; the water has not had time to grind the pieces into fine powder. It's not very comfortable for bare feet, but I commend the resort management for not importing fine sand from other islands, a practice quite common among more environmentally-insensitive beach resorts in the Philippines.




When the tide is high, which is most of the day, the sea flows onto the lower steps of the stone stairs which lead from the seaside pavilion to the beach.




I love the beach and I'm a pretty good swimmer, but I have to confess that I have a great fear of being bodily in deep ocean water (I'm perfectly fine in boats), which means that I spent most of our water time in Bellarocca's infinity pool. I love how its deep blue tiles match the color of the deep sea, though it did make my heart race the first time I saw it. Quite deceiving really, since the deepest part of the pool is only four feet (1.2 meters).




This was my favorite poolside deck chair. I love the canopy and the chair can be swiveled to face either the pool or the ocean.




Mount Malindig on the main island of Marinduque dominates the view both from the pool and the beach. It is a potentially active volcano and its last eruption, whenever that was, is evident throughout the land trip, with large boulders made of volcanic rock strewn by the roadside. Bellarocca Resort maintains a 9-hole golf course at Malindig's foot—that little white dot is the clubhouse. I think that the volcano's deep rifts and craggy top make for a fascinating study. BELLAROCCA SERIES #3

Natural or man-made, take a refreshing dip in Watery Wednesday.

Day-tripping

THEME DAY: PASSAGEWAY • Alright, I'm cheating again here because we've left Metro Manila. We're on the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway, better known as SCTEx, although where exactly, I have no idea. The SCTex goes through three provinces north of Manila: Pampanga, Bataan and Tarlac. Since it opened in 2008, day trips from Manila to the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, which is located in the province of Zambales, have become easier; it is 110 kilometers away from Manila but the trip now only takes an hour and forty five minutes compared to three hours before the road was constructed. Last year, I took a trip to Subic Bay with my sister and nieces. This time, my girlfriends and I went a bit farther. Come back tomorrow to see where we spent last Thursday.



From the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary: Passage a: a road, path, channel, or course by which something passes b: a corridor or lobby giving access to the different rooms or parts of a building or apartment. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.

SEE IT SUNDAY: DIRECTION